Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince

[Jon]

I'll say the crowd was insane. I couldn't find a parking spot. We sold out 12 theaters for midnight premieres here.

I was mostly unimpressed. They focused entirely too much on the romances between Ron and Hermione, and Harry and Ginny. They focused entirely too little on the Half-blood Prince, even though I supposed his real story comes in the seventh book.

What bothered me most is how ordinary everything seemed. I think the main actors have lost interest in the series, clearly. When they were young, they would express excitement in their scenes. It appears the magic has died and they are too old for these roles now.

To top it off, most of the film seems to be spent in plain clothes, as opposed to their wizarding robes. This completely kills the mood of the story. Even the scene with Harry and Dumbledore going after the Horcrux in the end, Harry is wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. What the hell?

They also left out the scenes with Sirius speaking to Harry through the mirror. I believe that was in this book, but it was not in this film. They also hint entirely too much at what's to come in the final films. For those who haven't read the books, you'll easily figure out the plot Dumbledore comes up with, even though it was not revealed until the final book.

Anyway, the film served its purpose. You know who dies, you know who kills him, you know who cries about it. In the end, I really hope the next two films are better.

I will say they added a scene that was pretty awesome though. Let's just say there's an old-fashioned house burning. That scene almost got to me.

 

[strollingbones]

sorry it did not live up to the hype...but they are going on movie what now?

 

[tigerbob]

I didn't think it was as bad as you did js, but I still didn't think it was good.

I liked the humor that ran through the film, though I thought sometimes it went too far. For example, Ron's "Did you and Ginny do it?" line seemed to me to be a shared joke with the audience who were all 6 or 7 when they first saw a Potter film and are now about 14 or 15 and think double entendre jokes like that are reaaaally funny. There were other examples as well.

Agree, there was much too much time spent on teenage emotions and not enough on the plot.

I'd have liked to see Ron go through his Quidditch journey a bit more. I was looking forward to a few choruses of "Weasley is our King".

The scene with Dumbledore / Draco / Snape on the tower at the end was too far away from the book IMO. That scene should have been spellbinding. As it was, it did little more than tell the story.

As for the acting, I don't think it's lack of interest that has undervalued the performances. I think that what you used to see coming across was their youthful enthusiasm, but now they want to be seen as good actors so they are trying to bring something else to the roles. That doesn't make the acting bad, but it does make the feel of the film very different. This isn't the actors' problem - it's the director's.

All in all, I give it a 7. I was hoping for a 9. If they blow the last 2 installments like they did this one I'll be mightily pissed. This film was aimed far too much at teenagers.

 

[tigerbob]

sorry it did not live up to the hype...but they are going on movie what now?

This was 6. There will be 2 more, both taken from the 7th book.

 

[Jon]

I don't think it's lack of interest that has undervalued the performances. I think that what you used to see coming across was their youthful enthusiasm, but now they want to be seen as good actors so they are trying to bring something else to the roles. That doesn't make the acting bad, but it does make the feel of the film very different.

Bingo. I couldn't agree more. Their acting is actually MUCH better than it was in the last five films, but they make the story hard to believe.

 

[Modbert]

I wanted to be right about HBP being better than the book, but I would say they are both tied. (Though I hold a much lower standing of the HBP book than J or Tiger do.)

I'd give it a 6 if I was being generous but I'm not. I'd give it a 5 really to be honest. I wouldn't blame the actors so much for the problems of this movie however. It's the fact that HBP sucked compared to the earlier books and it translated over to the movies.

By the way, the HBP book has plenty of moments where looking back that you realize that Rowling either stopped caring or was making stuff up on the fly.

 

[Jon]

I don't agree she stopped caring. I will agree she made things up on the fly. You can tell her focus was on the final book. Remember that she wrote the final scenes of the final book when she wrote the first book. HBP was simply "filler." But she included a lot of intriguing backstory about Riddle, Dumbledore, and Snape in this book, to set up the final book. Essentially, those are the three characters Deathly Hallows focuses on. I would say even Harry gets less story in that book than those three.

I think you are both being generous with your scores. Of course, I'm also a much harder film critic.

 

[Missourian]

This thread needs a spoiler alert.

 

[JoeHova]

I thought acts 1 and 2 were fine I was disappointed in the lack of accuracy during the third act. Harry came across as a coward. If he isn't frozen hes fighting and what about the DA? The death eaters just strolled out without a fight. With the action in part five I was really looking forward to some dueling on the tower steps. Over all the film has to speak to the whole of the series but less lavender and more fighting would have been good enough. I hope the DVD has more to offer. On the lighter side I really did like the humor, you get the feeling like the kids are finally letting their gaurds down a little.
I will say that most of my disappointment stems from the fact that they really had no excuss for leaving the battle out... I guess they did have over a year to screw it up though.

 

[Jon]

Yes, there was WAY too much Lavender. In fact, they focused more on her relationship with Ron than they did Hermione's. And the lack of a good fight scene at the end was extremely disappointing, although the scene with Harry and Dumbledore collecting the Horcrux was better than I imagined. I had actually forgotten about RAB. I think the best part of the film was Harry chasing down Snape after "it" happens. "He TRUST you!" That kinda got to me.

The only humor that I enjoyed was Harry's drinking the Felix Felicis, and Luna's oddball behavior. The rest was easy to forget.

 

[Modbert]

Yes, there was WAY too much Lavender. In fact, they focused more on her relationship with Ron than they did Hermione's. And the lack of a good fight scene at the end was extremely disappointing, although the scene with Harry and Dumbledore collecting the Horcrux was better than I imagined. I had actually forgotten about RAB. I think the best part of the film was Harry chasing down Snape after "it" happens. "He TRUST you!" That kinda got to me.

The only humor that I enjoyed was Harry's drinking the Felix Felicis, and Luna's oddball behavior. The rest was easy to forget.

Just like the book

Luna's oddball behavior was one of the few things I enjoyed from that movie. As like in the book, I'm a bit pissed off that Rowling made Hermione's IQ drop like a hundred points between OOTP and HBP.

 

[tigerbob]

I thought acts 1 and 2 were fine I was disappointed in the lack of accuracy during the third act. Harry came across as a coward. If he isn't frozen hes fighting and what about the DA? The death eaters just strolled out without a fight. With the action in part five I was really looking forward to some dueling on the tower steps. Over all the film has to speak to the whole of the series but less lavender and more fighting would have been good enough. I hope the DVD has more to offer. On the lighter side I really did like the humor, you get the feeling like the kids are finally letting their gaurds down a little.
I will say that most of my disappointment stems from the fact that they really had no excuss for leaving the battle out... I guess they did have over a year to screw it up though.

Yeah, I was thinking that as they were walking through the school. Where's the D.A.?

And there was way too much Lavender.

 

[Modbert]

Yeah, I was thinking that as they were walking through the school. Where's the D.A.?

And there was way too much Lavender.

The movie was half assed pretty much. Then again, the books were poorly written just as much plot wise. (Least Book 4 and beyond)

 

[asgardshill]

[SPOILER-FREE COMMENTS - READ WITH CONFIDENCE]

On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 = Heaven's Gate and 10 = Citizen Kane, I gave HP&tHbP a low 7. None of the movie versions of JK Rowling's written work will EVER get anything higher than a 7 from me because none of the books have really translated very well into film. You simply lose too much detail in the transition.

Good/suspenseful/positive:

- The fire was jarring to me. It made my heart hurt because I've been burned out myself.

- The love potion scene and its effect on one of the characters. Hilarious, and mixed with just enough "we've all been there" moments to make it memorable.

- The chase through the tall grass. Almost as suspenseful as anything Hitchcock ever did - kept me on the edge of my seat.

Bad/lame/negative:

- As somebody upthread mentioned, way too much Lavender. In one of the previous movies, the director's daughter IRL got entirely too much on-camera time and this seemed to be much the same thing.

- A character takes entirely too much pleasure in his/her manipulation of friends. The book was pretty clear about the character doing something reluctantly to influence a friend, but the character looked like he/she was enjoying the manipulation a bit too much.

- Harry Potter shouldn't have done Equus. That mental image has completely ruined Daniel Radcliffe in the role for me.

- They didn't give Maggie Smith (McGonagall) near enough to do.

 

[misteroboto]

i have to say i think a lot of you are being kind- the movie seemed more like a episode of tween romance reality/drama than a Harry Potter book.

i realize that Harry and the gang are getting older - but frankly the focus was just off - it would go like this

romance - lil comedy about the romance - then scenes of Malfoy brooding- some movement on the arc of magic and the battle between good and bad then MORE brooding by Malfoy and back to the relationship drama

BLEH

theyd seriously better step up their game because i cant take another 2 hours of watching tweens and their love drama

lastly i always felt that only a few Potter films had a close that was...satisfying - this one certainly didnt - i have the feeling that in a few weeks i am going to feel gyped out of the gastank priced tickets i had to buy...

 

[Nevadamedic]

I actually really liked the movie. I am about to go see it a second time in a little bit. Granted I was a little more then dissapointed at some of it. I mean the Burrow didn't burn down in the 6th book and they left out the funeral at the end and of couse the movie didn't portray Snape like the book did. You can definately tell why Snape did what he did just by his lines in the movie and the way he acted. They also left out way to many other scenes especially about the Dark Lords past and I HATE IT when they leave out the Dursleys.

I really hope they pull it together in the next two movies and don't leave out as much as they did in the HBP movie.

 

[Modbert]

I actually really liked the movie. I am about to go see it a second time in a little bit. Granted I was a little more then dissapointed at some of it. I mean the Burrow didn't burn down in the 6th book and they left out the funeral at the end and of couse the movie didn't portray Snape like the book did. You can definately tell why Snape did what he did just by his lines in the movie and the way he acted. They also left out way to many other scenes especially about the Dark Lords past and I HATE IT when they leave out the Dursleys.

I really hope they pull it together in the next two movies and don't leave out as much as they did in the HBP movie.

How can you like the movie's adaption of the book if they left so much of the book out? Especially important scenes and characters.

 

[Nevadamedic]

I actually really liked the movie. I am about to go see it a second time in a little bit. Granted I was a little more then dissapointed at some of it. I mean the Burrow didn't burn down in the 6th book and they left out the funeral at the end and of couse the movie didn't portray Snape like the book did. You can definately tell why Snape did what he did just by his lines in the movie and the way he acted. They also left out way to many other scenes especially about the Dark Lords past and I HATE IT when they leave out the Dursleys.

I really hope they pull it together in the next two movies and don't leave out as much as they did in the HBP movie.

How can you like the movie's adaption of the book if they left so much of the book out? Especially important scenes and characters.

Because I was just happy to see the new movie that I wasn't gonna let anything ruin that. Hell I watch the first 5 movies so much that ive burned out the dvd's

 

[Modbert]

Because I was just happy to see the new movie that I wasn't gonna let anything ruin that. Hell I watch the first 5 movies so much that ive burned out the dvd's

It's too bad when you sit down and examine the books, you realize how much is wrong with them.

#3 was always my favorite movie by the way followed by #1.

 

[Nevadamedic]

Because I was just happy to see the new movie that I wasn't gonna let anything ruin that. Hell I watch the first 5 movies so much that ive burned out the dvd's

It's too bad when you sit down and examine the books, you realize how much is wrong with them.

#3 was always my favorite movie by the way followed by #1.

See I didn't really like 3 to much. It was really a go nowhere book and movie. It was just time passing for the next couple books. I really liked the 1st, 2nd and 5th and of course 7th eventhough they killed way to many people off in 7.